Google AI helps skiers, snowboarders’ tricks

How Google AI can help athletes score big

By solving for some of the most extreme conditions on the mountain — and the planet — we’re demonstrating that Google AI can excel on biomechanical tasks in more conventional settings, too, whether that’s helping amateur golfers, physical therapy patients or industrial robotics labs.

Though high-powered, Google’s platform can run on devices in the palm of a skier’s glove. While it would still be useful to have the analysis back at the gym or lodge, the fact it can play out on the slopes, in near real time, is a big part of the value to the team.

“In the past, I’d have to call a friend and say, ‘Hey, do you have that shot of that trick from five years ago?’ and then I’d just flip back and forth between videos,” explains Shaun White, the former U.S. Olympian and famed snowboarder. “This tool changes that — it lets you take a run from the past and bring it into the future. You can slow it down and see exactly where your head and body are positioned in that moment. It’s about being able to see those little things and understand them in real time.”

We foresee these tools going way beyond the slope or the stadium. Whether the precision required in robotic surgery or the safety protocols of modern manufacturing, AI technology is evolving how we understand, and improve, the way the world moves.

Learn more on Transform with Google Cloud.